How do we give glory to God? The famous motto of the Jesuit order is “ad majorem Dei gloriam” or AMDG. In English the motto is “For the Greater Glory of God”. Jesus instructs us on how to achieve this motto in the Gospel, “By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”[i] We give glory to God in two ways: becoming a disciple of Christ and bearing fruit.

This lesson will cover giving glory to God by becoming and staying a disciple. Jesus word’s about remaining in Him in the 15th chapter of Saint John dispel many heresies (false teachings) and reinforce for us the necessity of salvation and the reality of hell.

Is it enough to just become a disciple? Becoming a disciple means that we must remain a disciple. Jesus says, “Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me will be thrown out like a branch and wither…”[ii] If we remain a disciple, we will bear fruit. We become a disciple, remain a disciple, and bear fruit.

What are the effects of mortal sin? Death; Maybe not with our physical bodies, but with our souls we have mortally wounded it. If we commit a mortal sin, we have removed our self from Christ. We no longer remain with Him, and therefore, no longer bear fruit. In order to regain life again to our souls and within Christ, we must repent and confess our sin and thus be reunited with Christ, remaining with Him and bearing fruit. Through Jesus power to come back from death, we are brought out of our spiritual death of mortal sin.

How do we know if we are “remaining with Him”? Christ and His Church, guided by the Holy Spirit, give us standards. If we are in the state of grace, we are remaining with Him.

How does the Church help us know if we are “remaining with Him”? The Church has the right to excommunicate a member of the Church. Excommunication means that a member of the Church “…is more or less excluded from communion with the faithful…In general, the effects of excommunication affect the person’s right to receive the sacraments, or Christian burial, until the individual repents and is reconciled with the Church.”[iii] Excommunication is a way for the Church to correct an unrepentant, unfaithful member of the Church, by saying privately or publically: you are not remaining with Christ…repent, change, and get back on board. The Church also challenges the faithful to remain not just “partially” but “in full communion”. “They are fully incorporated in the society of the Church who, possessing the Spirit of Christ accept her entire system and all the means of salvation given to her, and are united with her as part of her visible bodily structure and through her with Christ, who rules her through the Supreme Pontiff and the bishops. The bonds which bind men to the Church in a visible way are profession of faith, the sacraments, and ecclesiastical government and communion. He is not saved, however, who, though part of the body of the Church, does not persevere in charity. He remains indeed in the bosom of the Church, but, as it were, only in a ‘bodily’ manner and not ‘in his heart.’”[iv] The Church is very clear that if we are only in the Church in a “bodily” manner but not “in heart” we will not be saved.

Why would the Church want to punish us? If the Church is going to “punish” us it is only because we punish ourselves first through a sinful act. When someone commits a crime and goes to jail they are being punished because they have already broken the law in the first place. When a parent punishes their child, it is because the child has already been disobedient. The Church is our mother, and as a mother, she corrects us and calls us to holiness. The Church has the right to withhold and delay a Sacrament, if a member of the Church does not have the necessary maturity or preparation. For example the pastor can delay the Sacrament of Confirmation if a person does not meet the requirements necessary for preparation. Anytime a member of the Church, has no desire to repent and turn from a life of sin, the Church, may withhold a Sacrament. For example if a couple is cohabitating and refuses to repent, confess, and amend their life, they cannot receive any Sacrament. If we are living in habitual sin and have lost the state of grace, we must be in the state of grace, prior to receiving a Sacrament. The Church would rather punish and cleanse us now, through love and charity, than to be punished later in hell. “It is better to be punished and cleansed now than to be sent to the torment to come, when it will be time for punishing only, and not for cleansing.”[v]

What are ways that we can be in the Church in “body” but not in “heart”? We must have charity in all things. Charity is not only a theological virtue given to us, but also a fruit of the Holy Spirit that is manifested in the life of a disciple. We must not only “accept her entire system and all the means of salvation” and bind our self to here “profession of faith, the sacraments, and ecclesiastical government and communion”, but we must do all of this out of charity and with charity. Do we seek only salvation or do we seek holiness? Why are we professing what we profess? Why are we accepting what we accept? It is not only “why” we are professing and accepting, but “how”. Do we profess and accept out of love? What are some examples of how we are in the Church in “body” but not “heart”?

MOVIE – Forest Gump: I'm not a smart man, but I know what love is We do not have to be smart to know what love is. This is why it is easy for the world to see Catholics that profess and accept Christ and His Church, but do not love Christ and His Church. There are many that will profess and accept Christ and His Church, but fewer that will lay down their life for Christ and His Church. The world needs to see disciples that are in love with Christ and His Church. To see someone that is truly in love is not only unmistakable, but inspiring. This clarity and inspiration is what the disciple who remains in Christ, both in “body” and “heart” gives to the world.

Is it possible to reject Christ? If it was not possible to reject Christ, then Jesus would not have commanded us to remain with Him. The fact that He tells us to remain in Him means that we are free to not remain. There is a heresy called Calvinism that states that man does not have an internal free will, to choose or reject God, but rather this “choice” is predestined. “In the Calvinist system, as a result of Adam’s fall, man has no longer any internal freedom of the will; he is a slave of God. Everyone is eternally predestined, either for heaven or for hell, absolutely independent of his personal efforts. Consequently the elect cannot be lost.”[vi]

A modern error of Calvinism is the belief, “Once saved, always saved.” The term justification is often used in association with salvation. Justification is “the process of a sinner becoming justified or made right with God. As defined by the Council of Trent, ‘Justification is the change from the condition in which a person is born as a child of the first Adam into a state of grace and adoption among the children of God through the Second Adam Jesus Christ, our Savior’”[vii]

What did Calvin (Calvinism) and Luther (Lutheran) teach about justification? “Calvin taught the absolute impossibility of losing justification. Luther said it could be lost only through the sin of unbelief – that is, by undoing the act of faith and rejecting Christ – but not what Catholics call mortal sin.

What do Catholics believe in Justification? Catholics see it differently. If you sin grievously, then the supernatural life in your soul disappears, since it cannot coexist with serious sin. You then cease to be justified. If you were to die while unjustified, you’d go to hell. But you can become re-justified by having the supernatural life renewed in your soul, and you can do that by responding to the actual graces God sends you.”[viii]

A disciple is a living testimony to God’s justification. The Church teaches that justification has five purposes, the first of which is to give glory and honor to God.

Search: Made right with God

Is there a hell? Yes. Jesus says, “Anyone who does not remain in me will be thrown out like a branch and wither; people will gather them and throw them into a fire and they will be burned.”[ix] The Church says hell is “the state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed, reserved for those who refuse by their own free choice to believe and be converted from sin, even to the end of their lives.”[x]

MOVIE – Cold Comfort Farm Sermon - No Butter in Hell In speaking about hell we must stick to the facts presented above. We can’t down play the seriousness of hell. “It is vain that some, indeed very many, moan about eternal punishment, and the perpetual, uninterrupted torments of the lost, and say they do not believe it will be so…they soften down everything that seems hard, and give a milder turn to statements that they think are designed to frighten rather than to be received as literally true.”[xi]

In this clip the preacher dwells on what the separation of God will be like. It will be like a burn with no relief. It is good to dwell on what the separation of God is like now and would be like later, but we also should dwell on what it is like to be united to God, now and for all eternity. We can be moved to holiness out of a fear of being separated from God and out of love of being united with God. Of the two motivations, love is stronger.